Feds to assume control of Bastrop Co. fire; TX volunteer firemen turned away

BASTROP — Firefighting-trained volunteers from around the state converged on Bastrop and Smithville Tuesday to lend a hand to the beleaguered local firefighters battling the Bastrop County Complex Fire — only to be sent away as federal officials arrived at the scene and took command, apparently because local officials never made a formal request for volunteers.

“We were at the station getting set up into strike teams, and this guy came up and said that the U.S. Forest Service had ‘assumed control of the situation, and that ‘If you don’t have a vehicle that squirts water, go home,’” said Gordon Greer of Kirbyville, who drove all night Monday to arrive in the town beset by the worst wildfire in Texas history. “You’ve got guys who had driven all night long from Corpus Christi and Brownsville on their own dime, and they turned them away. He was really a (bleep) about it.

“There was a whole line of beige cars that came in this morning, tinted windows and such,” Greer said.

A spokesperson with the U.S. National Interagency Incident Center, Jennifer Jones, confirmed that federal group of several different agencies would be assuming command in Bastrop County around 1 p.m. Tuesday, but had not done so when the firefighting volunteers were told to leave. April Saginor with the Texas Forest Service said her agency had not given any such order, to her knowledge, but promised to provide an update later in the day.

The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management announced via its Facebook account Tuesday afternoon that “Any fire mutual aid requests would always come through (and to) Local, State and National fire service and emergency leadership. This message sent as per Texas Fire Chiefs, TIFMAS, IAFC, USFA and FEMA. If you are a fire fighter wanting to volunteer you have to be activated by the National Forestry Service first.”

The Texas Forest Service issued a statement Tuesday evening that it is not requesting firefighters/retired firefighters to report to Central Texas.

"If a person wants to fight fire they can: 1. Apply for a full-time Texas Forest Service position. We are not hiring seasonals as we currently do not have the time to hire, train and certify them. 2. Join a local fire department. 3. Members of local departments should not self-dispatch. Have your fire chief contact TIFMAS Coordinator Joe Florentino at jflorentino@littleelm.org"

Several of the volunteers voiced their displeasure, however, at federal agents taking charge at the scene after appeals by Texas Gov. Rick Perry for federal aid following another series of wildfires earlier this year was turned down.

“They’re willing to sacrifice the lives of the people of Bastrop just so they can come in here and pull rank,” said Daniel Miller of Nederland, who had led a group of Texas Nationalist Movement members who were certified firefighters to Bastrop from the Beaumont area. Miller said he and several other members of the group would remain in the Bastrop area to aid with civilian relief efforts.

I own native grassland, never been plowed.

This land has never been plowed.

That's starthistle.

This land has never been plowed.

That's kudzu.

This land has never been plowed.

That's cheat.

Now, I'm not saying your property looks like that, but if you think that plowing or not denotes "native," you probably don't have any idea what I have been saying, so let me be more explicit. I mean that our land (other than our vegetable boxes) is ALL NATIVE SPECIES, right down to the tiniest forb, including every blade of grass. The restoration project on our land started as with overgrown fuel bomb infested with introduced species for over 150 years that we know of. Yes, I weed it all (and our neighbors' properties too), seven months a year, much of it on my hands and knees, many times, nearly 25 acres of it.

Unless you have studied botany extensively, I seriously doubt that you even know all the grass and forb species you have, much less have measured them quantitatively. Vegetative transects on our meadows measure 99.6% pure native plants, most of them forbs. We have documented 355 plant species here, with meadows having as many as 40 within ten feet (we started with less than 60). There are 33 species of grasses, rushes, and sedges here alone. In fact, I have been asked to publish these results in an academic journal, as they are unprecedented in the field of "restoration ecology."

So, when I said "native perennial bunch grasses," it really is a distinction with a difference, especially when their associated native forbs are included. That we have green grass (and especially sedges) atop a hot sunny ridge at the end of summer deep in the Coastal mountains of California is unheard of. The difference is that we have virtually all native plants under a uniquely strict degree of control.

If green bothers you that much, get a goat.

What a stupid thing to say. If you are so lazy that you haven't checked out who I am and what I've done on this forum in the area of exposing enviro-racketeering in government land management, if you read what I said and posted to you carefully and understood the commitment it to our land it denoted, then this is my last polite post to you, and believe me, I can get very nasty with a demonstrably-ignorant jerk like you. The good news for you is that for now I won't go to much of an effort, because you are clearly incapable of comprehending what you are reading, much less sufficiently diligent to check things out.

As it is, I want a pair of St. Croix sheep because I want my grasslands even more productive. Once I've finished the conference center and built a barn, I will.

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